KARACHI: A key suspect in the Baldia Town factory fire case was brought to Karachi from Thailand on Tuesday by a two-member team of the Federal Investigation Agency, officials said.

They said the Karachi police would seek the custody of suspect Abdul Rahman, alias Bhola, for interrogation in the case pertaining to the factory fire that killed over 250 labourers.

The suspect was brought to Karachi in a Thai Airline commercial flight after his emergency passport was issued by the Pakistan embassy in Bangkok.

The FIA team comprising Deputy Director Badar Baloch and Inspector Rahmatullah Domki of the agency’s antiterrorism wing took three days to complete the required process after reaching Thailand on Saturday.

“He [Bhola] will be presented before an antiterrorism court in the morning [Wednesday],” said Mr Baloch. “He is wanted by police in 10 cases including the Baldia Town factory fire one. Two inquiries are being conducted by the FIA against the suspect and these are also related to antiterrorism issues. He is here now and further process would follow the defined laws.”

Suspect Bhola was arrested last week by Interpol in Bangkok while he was staying in a local hotel. His involvement in the Baldia Town factory fire came to light in February last year when the paramilitary Rangers submitted in the Sindh High Court a report stating that a suspect, Rizwan Qureshi, told interrogators that the Baldia factory fire was an act of arson.

He was said to be a “sector in charge” of the Baldia Town sector of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s organisational structure in 2012. The party has now been divided in three factions — the MQM-London, MQM-Pakistan and the Pak Sarzameen Party — and every faction demanded a high-level transparent probe and exemplary punishment for whosoever involved in the killing of over 250 workers.

The day news of Bhola’s arrest hit the news channels’ headlines, social media was abuzz with reports that the held suspect had joined the PSP. A party membership form with his photograph and pictures of his family members with PSP leaders Mustafa Kamal and Anis Kaimkhani were circulating on Twitter. However, the PSP denied such reports and said that Bhola was the “sector in charge of the MQM” and he was never part of the party.

Similarly, MQM-Pakistan leader Rauf Siddiqui had told the media in Karachi that he was not aware whether Rehman was a party worker or not.

“Though Bhola was arrested last week, the police and other investigators here were already aware of his presence in Bangkok and that’s why the Interpol in close coordination with the Pakistani authorities moved so quick for his repatriation,” said a senior police officer. “He was arrested by Interpol in Bangkok on December 3 but the FIA had already asked the interior minister to allow its two officials to go to Bangkok to arrest in a letter on December 1. It was better coordination and right approach of the investigators which brought him here within a week.”

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2016